Have you ever daydreamed about becoming a YouTube reality star or create a viral video? I think it crosses everyone’s mind every now and then, then reality strikes. Creating this stuff is difficult. Even if you are creative, you need equipment, knowledge of producing and editing video’s and lastly, you need an audience.

You may recall hearing, “Hang out one’s shingle”? It is an American idiom dating back to the early 1800’s, when lawyers, doctors, and other businesses used shingles for signboards. When you walk along a sidewalk in a downtown area, you can often see little signs in front of businesses, hanging above the sidewalk.

Hanging out one’s shingle doesn’t draw a crowd and I feel that is one reason YouTube channels struggle in the beginning. Simply posting on social media doesn’t guarantee subscribers. You may have ideas and a demographic on whose eyes should be watching the channel but lack the skills to get your name in front of this audience.

This was my main concern when I started iTalkDEO. A YouTube channel dedicated to helping people improve their communication skills. The voice in my head kept asking me, “How do I get eyes to watch my videos?”

As I mentally struggled with this problem, it occurred to me, right in the middle of my twenty-fifth pushup. The morning workout is when I do most of my abstract thinking when the word popped into my head – product rollout. As a promotional entertainer, I have worked with many companies at trade shows helping them roll out a new product that’s not in the stores for several months after the show.

Marketing a New YouTube Channel

Taking this new idea, I started to create my iTalkDEO channel. I created a banner, logo and uploaded a couple videos. The starter video is a TEDxNaperville Talk and the second is a Toastmasters Keynote address on building a Toastmasters Club.

The main videos had not been producing. In fact, I just had the basic idea for the first video. It was several days later that I sat at my desk early on a Saturday morning, that I hand wrote out my ideas that I was going to produce. With the foundation laid out, I started marketing my channel on Facebook, Twitter, direct emails to friends and blogging about the new channel.

The results were seventy-two subscribers over ten days. A far cry from the 500K I’m looking to grow the channel too, but it’s a start. Without me investing time in the pre-rollout I would be struggling to get twenty subscribers let alone seventy-two.

The key to creating a new YouTube channel is to start the marketing prior to the release of the channel. As this is as critical as every video uploaded and promoted afterward. Market your channel each and every day until that first video goes live. Your YouTube channel success is a measurement by your dedication to marketing your channel daily.

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Why the Rally Flag is Important to Businesses

Why do companies have a business flag? If you’re like me you would have never thought about a flag, but here I was at a meeting talking with my friend Arthur about flags. I know, it was like being with Sheldon from the Big Bang series talking about flags. So what got us talking and thinking about flags? This TED talk by Roman Mars: Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you’ve never noticed. I’ll put the video at the end of this article for you to watch.

The way Arthur talked about this video, I had to go home and watch it and as I watched I heard this…flags are the things that people rally around. At that moment I had a realization – this is why companies have flags.

Thinking about all the events I worked, 5K runs, fundraisers, zoos, libraries and Park Districts, none had a flag. But in hindsight, they should have.

What symbol brings your group together? Is it a logo, ribbon, or nothing at all?

Every country has a flag. Major corporations have flags and 90% of the cities have flags. I figured my business is as important as the fortune 500 company; so I made a flag. It was easy using Roman Mars’s basic flag designs. I made twenty-five different designs before I settled on this design.

The flag design is based on my occupation, family and love of country. The blue circles are balloon bubbles. The two red stars represent my two sons and the layout of red star, white background, and blue bubble symbolize the United States – Red, White & Blue.

If royalty, countries, states, cities and Fortune 500 companies can have a flag to rally around, shouldn’t your business, association or club have a flag? It can. Just design one and use it as part of your marketing to give your fans something to rally around.

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“What we yearn for as human beings is to be visible to each other” Jacqueline Novogratz

Millions of posts are made on Facebook and what do you see next to your post? A gravatar in Facebook is your picture that links to your Facebook page. But do you realize the Internet blogs have been allowing you to do this for years and the clever marketers of the world have been leaving breadcrumbs for others to follow?

Gravatars are not new, just overlooked.

Here is how you can leave marketing breadcrumbs for others to follow.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) companies have suggested the concept of improving Google rankings you must be active on the Internet. They recommend being a guest blogger or leaving comments on related websites.

Spammers love leaving comments and they leave links to a website. Yet many great people leave comments and have a gravatar with an image or logo that when clicked, links this breadcrumb back to their contact information. This allows search engines, individuals and bloggers to verify the user. No longer are you a spammer, but a real individual that can be followed and credentials verified to your creditability links.

How to create a Gravatar

I created my first Gravatar years ago and it’s very simple to do. Go to this URL http://en.gravatar.com/ register. Once registered, update your link and contact information. A gravatar will be created with your image/logo and will appear next time you posts to a web blog.

You’re now leaving breadcrumbs on the Internet for bloggers, clients, fans and search engines to follow. Become visible and valuable in your blog marketing in less than 90-minutes.

Place your mouse on my picture located in the signature and see my gravatar in action.

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The Press Release – The Art of Self-Promotions

Do you feel excited when a friend emails, posts, or calls telling you they just read an article about your company or service in the newspaper? I know it puts a smile on my face.

“Daddy, Ms. Simpkins saw you in the paper!” my son yells as he runs into the house from school. Ms. Simpkins, the 1st grade teacher, recognized me from an article that was written about a corporate charity event at which I entertained early in the month.

Several weeks later, I’m talking with extended family at a birthday party and somebody says, “Hey, I saw you in the newspaper.” This is no surprise to me. I have been playing John Appleseed for years.

The legendary John Appleseed introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as the northern counties of present-day. Over time many of the trees grew and flourished. Over the year, I have been planting my own seeds…news releases.

News releases have been used by major companies around the world for decades. As long as companies are making “news” they’re going to keep sending them to news media outlets. Notice I said news media outlets… a press release can be sent to radio and TV stations, magazines, newspapers, and blogs. We have more outlets now than we had 10 years ago to publicize a company’s success.

Every year I send out press releases. Some special seeds make it into the newspaper, while others die before they can even take hold. However, for those that do grow into a story, they generally flourish and generate marketing that I would have typically paid $100’s if not $1,000’s of advertising dollars for. All from a press release that takes about 90 minutes to create.

Writing a press release is not difficult; you just need a human interest story built into the press release. In this example, I appealed to the editor’s interest in community, church, and schools. Without this hook it would be just me talking about a balloon show. Interesting to me, but not the editor’s readers. Bottom line…the article does not get published.

I have found that I don’t have to wait for an editor to publish my story. News outlets are now allowing you to publish your own news. I could wait, hope, wish, and pray that my article gets published, or I can log into an online news outlet and publish my own news.

After I self-publish my news, I use social media to share my story. Months later at a family event I hear…”I saw you in the newspaper.” “Really,” I say with a smile.

It’s time for you to start planting your news seeds, for when you do… it will get you the marketing you need to grow your business.

If you’re unsure on how to create a press release, then get my e-document on How to Write a Grand Opening Press Release. This e-document will guide you through the process of writing a press release for a special event.

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Finding the best clients is like fishing. When I fish, I see minions swimming by the shore. My bait and hooks are too big for their tiny months and are not the fish I’m looking to catch. I’m bass fishing and that requires me to understanding the fish’s characteristics. With a little practice and knowledge I can skillfully catch a bass.

Fishing is all about knowing what the fish eats, when it eats, and where it lives; I use this same logic when marketing. I define the client I’m looking to catch in detail.

I define the prefect client by who they are, their educational background, job title, places they do business, who they interact with both socially and business wise, and create a clear picture of the perfect client I want to work with in the coming year.

I’ve personally evaluated my business and have found people that I like to work with as an entertainer. My key client are people who own a business, have young kids, have an interest in sports and the community, are detailed, finically established, religious, and married.

Characteristics of their events are multiple hours, fancy parties, are concerned about my wellbeing, willing to take advice, offer me food and drink, will reimburse for parking, recommend me to others, willing to pay top dollar for my service, and will interact like a long lost friend and not a paid helper.

Now that I have defined who my perfect client is and their characteristics I can now go fishing for them. I now troll networking groups, Chamber of Commerce, sporting and church events for these clients.

Defining my clients is reshaping the way I market and is making it enjoyable and profitable to work with these individual. It takes works to land these clients, but the results are well worth the efforts.

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Social media has made it even easier for enterprising businesses to use meme’s as a way to brand an image or product. I interviewed Fred Moore, Productivity Specialist Entertainer on this topic and got insight on how he uses meme’s to brand his reputation.

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Committing to change is not easy, it could be giving up sugar, working out, or writing a blog. What needs to happen is a mind shift and learning how to change one’s priorities. Once you accept the change the results will start. Without accepting change, you will never hit your marketing results.

In baseball we have what we call the shift. This is when the third baseman and shortstop shift and move towards the right field. The pitcher now pitches the ball to the outside of the plate forcing the batter to hit the ball where 90% of the team is standing. The out come is typically an out.

I have personally found that if I want to make a shift in my life I need to stack the odds in my favor to win. It may mean tossing out all the sugar in the house, giving up TV for a work out, or prioritizing my time better in the workday to advertise.

To become a better marketer you have to incorporate the mind change and become proactive. That means going to network meetings, calling clients, and increasing communications with past and future clients. The marketing shift should be focused on solving customers’ core conflicts, not trying to sell them.

My father taught me that it is easier to sell to their needs not to their wants. We all have wants, but most of those wants are overwritten by our desired needs. This is true in business. Show the client a solution to their problems and they will listen. Appealing to the clients wants only gets lookers, not sales.

My mind shift changes when I stop looking at a client as “How can they help me?” to “Can this person help somebody I know?” When I did this mind shift I found that I listened more intently to the client’s conversation, and listened for their needs. This allowed me to connect with the client and offer a solution to their problem. I found that listening closer to the client’s core needs allowed me to better target my marketing. No longer was I solving all their problems, but seeking to solve their core issues.

Did I win all of them as a client and make them a sale? NO! I’m marketing — which for me is the process of developing a relationship with the client. When the client calls to buy, that’s when I become the salesmen and take their order. Getting an instant sale is not the mind shift I’m looking to achieve when marketing.

Understanding the role of marketing is a mind shift.

Like the 3rd baseman who find himself in mid-right field. The goals have not changed, its how we go about getting the results, which has changed. If solving a client’s problem leads to sales, then the marketing goal is to focus on problem solving.

Make the mind shift from sales to problem solving, and your marketing ads will write themselves.

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In my early years of business, I first viewed marketing as a seasonal process and quickly realized that successful business don’t stop marketing. It is a continuous cycle.

My solution was print ads. Let’s faces it, that is one of the easy ways to market a business. Pay a graphic designer to make a pretty picture with your product, toss in some well crafted text, and let the ad run for several months.

I’ve tried this and failed. The world of print media is much more complicated then tossing an advertisement in a paper. You have to know the readers’ demographics, the location of the ad, and you need a call to action that generates leads or sales.

I questioned myself. If advertising needs to be done continuously, how does a small business achieve its marketing goals with limited resources?

Several years later I found that to be successful in advertising you need to have a marketing plan. Define who is your target audience. Is this a seasonal product? What are my customer demographics? Once I learned about my customer’s background demographics, a picture of who my target markets were developed.

Targeting a demographic creates a simple target to go after. No longer are buckshot flying all over the target. You now are actively targeting a niche.

After closely analyzing my entertainment business, I learned that I needed to niche market my business for entertaining at private events to birthday parties. Yet, I needed to go further. So I looked to the data. Where are my customers coming from? What is the age segment I am serving? Which gives me the greatest joy? Scanning my Google calendar, I realized that 1st birthday parties were the largest segment of my clients. I had found my niche – 1st birthday parties.

I learned that niche marketing is very effective and profitable for small business. I find that my website, copy, and marketing material are easier to produce just because I can be very specific on what I say. I found that I spent a full day trying to make one advertisement work in multiple situations. I have seen that spaghetti web page that has no focus, and I struggle to figure out who is the demographic that they are trying to serve. I found my marketing, but apparently they didn’t find their niche market.

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At night, I play on my phone checking out different parts of my social media sites. I look at who is following me, read comments or look for things of interest.

One day I was playing around in my Tumblr account and I was looking at the people that follow me. I was curious about who was following me and decided to check out my followers’ blog sites.

Over the evening I found a lot of things that I liked. I liked so many that Tumblr sent me a graphic and a message… “Good things come to those who like. ”

I liked 50 blog posts in that sitting. I never knew Tumblr sent this email. Bonus, it gave me a graphic to reblog.

Apparently, Tumblr tracks the number of hearts (likes) that you give. I started to think if I’d liked 50 people, why not like 100? What would Tumblr do? Another image was waiting in my email inbox saying “Looks like you’re starting to get the hang of liking stuff.
This is good news for your overall happiness in life. ”

I wondered how many people have posted the Tumblr achievement award. It reminded me of being friends with Tom on MySpace. Everyone had Tom as a friend.

Using Tumblr search, I looked for “100 likes” and “Tumblr milestones” and found hundreds of people who had posted a Tumblr award image. As I searched these blog posts, I noticed that nobody had liked them. On Instagram, I posted an image indicating “500 followers”. People liked it; and responded by giving it a like.

Some people have thousands of likes on a blog post. But what about these award images? Very few of them had any likes. I want to be recognized and not be lost in the other thousands of people who liked them. So I decided to like the Thumblr award images.

I spent the next 15 minutes giving love to those who had an award image. What did I get for my good hearted efforts? One reblogged and four started following me!

I expanded my search and learned that 250, 500, and even 100,000 award badges existed in the world of Tumblr. WARNING – you may see adult content along the way. Tumblr is an open blogging system and adult material is out there in plain sight.

Print this out and put it on your refrigerator to remind yourself how good you are at liking things.

My process is simple. Every day thousands of followers ignore the milestone posts. I’m going to like them. By me liking that image I will stand out from the pack. If I’m going to spend time leaving a comment or liking something I might as well stand out from the rest while doing it.

It’s just a matter of time before the process pays off and an award milestone blogger reblogs one of my posts. It wasn’t time consuming and takes little effort, but the outcome can bring to me a new audience of millions. This process is a new, creative way to spend my evenings playing with my phone while standing out amongst the crowd on Tumblr.